Im not surprised. Apple products used to just work, now they... Just update. I have two colleagues who are 100% non technical, they are planning to ditch their iPhone 6's for android devices. They are sick of the price gouging, itunes lock-in and storage problems.
Having moved I android 10 months ago, as a 7/8 year iPhone user, I couldn't be happier.
I've considered changing from iPhone to Android mainly due to iOS 8 update. It was such a disheartening experience. Sometimes I wish I even still had iOS6 installed.
I dropped $1400+ on iPhone 14 (with the apple care thing), but TBH I was disappointed, iOS/iPhone used to be ahead of Android in terms of OS and usability.
Now it just felt like the hardware is wasted on iOS.
I still have the old Android phone, and instinctively use that rather than dealing with iOS. Next device is definitely going to be an android.
Man - almost every other phone brand ends in the the trash MUCH MUCH sooner than Apple, so this is funny to read.
Seriously - can you tell me how long you received updates on your android phone?
Apple is the absolute leader in getting longer life out of their phones, they have much higher resale as a result as well.
Apple not only allows older devices to installer newer software (with bug fixes / security fixes / and supportable features) but they have been backporting stuff to a one step earlier iOS as well in terms of basic fixes. It's actually crazy especially in comparison to their competitors (that get no flak on HN) who literally ship with an old version of android AND DO NOT UPDATE IT!
Apple seems to be pushing real hard towards its OS upgrades. I imagine staying put on iOS 10 would involve a bunch of challenges including effort and time. Can't find a lot of resources to follow online either.
In stark contrast is my Moto X2, after 2 years of heavy daily use before my current phone, and one screen replacement is still chugging along pretty well on its archaic version of Android.
The argument that iPhones have superior hardware and build quality resulting in longer usage is negated by this constant push for upgrades. I think I know where I am headed for my next phone.
The broad decline in software quality from Apple has been gradual but steady since Jobs’ death. MacOS has deteriorated severely as the video shows, but even iOS has some serious problems. As someone who switched from Android about 6 months ago it’s safe to say Android is a much, much better operating system in its current incarnation (I plan to switch back). iOS still has better apps, but I doubt that will continue to be the case in a couple years.
So instead of doing one thing well, they do several things well? That seems pretty awesome.
I'm a huge fan of my Android phone. I think it's pure magic. I can't understand how people can tolerate these iPhone 4s since they're such inferior devices. iOS 5 is a pretty awesome game of catch-up (and flies past Android in a few areas).
After a series of Android devices, my first iPhone was the 6 Plus. The main reasons for me switching over were:
1. Ridiculously reliable battery. (People who have used both platforms will mostly agree, I think.)
2. 6 Plus was the first iPhone that did not seem tiny to me.
3. I really wanted to use it myself for a while and form my own opinions.
A year and a half of use later, my thoughts:
1. Totally awesome battery experience.
2. It's good, stable, reliable but it gets so... boring.
My next phone, whenever it is, is probably going to be the largest Nexus device available.
On a side note, it is so great to read a series of comments about iOS and Android that does not degenerate into a trolling competition.
I used to work for Blackberry, and have been using Android since Samsung Galaxy S3 all the way to Pixel 7.
For the first time, I am seriously considering switching to an iPhone. My parents used iphone since the 3G, so I am very familiar with them.
I have always hope that Android would catch up with iPhone in most metrics, but lately I feel Android is falling further and further behind, paradoxically as Android gains more and more features.. If iPhone does not exist, Android would be seen as perfectly fine. But iPhone does exist, and all the shortcomings in Android sticks out uncomfortably when comparing to iPhone.
1. Crap-tastic stability when Pixel6/Android 12 was released. I have not used a more buggy phone that crashed every week, or crash in the middle of a call, or a long list of bugs that I encountered during my usage. The OS eventually got better after a year of release, but that meant that I had to deal with the bugs for a year straight.
2. Things that work 80% as well as iPhone, but never exceed them. For example the fingerprint reader remains inaccurate for my right thumb, but not for my other fingers. Other issues include performance issues with videos (this got a lot better in the last 6 months), or batter life issues.
3. Everything is disjointed. To view photos, there is a File app, but then there's an Google Photo app. Somehow Favourites are not shared between the 2 apps.
I've been on Android since the G1 (G1, Nexus One, Nexus Galaxy, Nexus 5, Nexus 6p, Moto Z2 Force) and recently made the switch to the iphone 11. It's been a little difficult making the transition, but nothing compared to the hell that I've experienced with the last couple of devices I've owned. The Lenovo and Huawei were just disasters. 6p's hardware was utterly unreliable, and Google couldn't care less. Motorola just gave up supporting the device, eventually canceling the planned upgrade to 8.1. Zero security updates for 8 months.
Looking back on this Android journey I have to say that in addition the usual diatribe about what's wrong with Android, I've grown concerned about the disposable nature of Android devices. You effectively get 2 years of use out of an Android if you're lucky. And once their time is up, it's off to the landfill. That doesn't take into consideration all of the replacement devices (3 Nexus 6P's) they sent you due to the quality issues abound.
I see family and friends still using their iphone 5s!!! And even if you upgrade your iphone sooner, rest assured that that phone will end up the used phone market or overseas. When I bought the iphone 11, they offered me $23 for my Motorola. (btw, I was thinking oh well i'll just keep it and use it with my Amazon Alexa moto-mod, but it refuses to work without a SIM card in the phone. More E-waste!!!)
I honestly feel a little better owning an iphone, not just because it's around a better phone, but because my e-waste footprint will be a little less.
I moved to Android a couple of years ago as I was so frustrated with all the issues I was having (after being an iPhone user since the first iPhone) only to realise Android is the same mess of bugs and issues. It made me come to the conclusion that tech in general has just lost its path now, and the constant push for higher specs and more features has led to devices that suck at their basic use cases (but look at those pixel-level photo comparison!1one!).
I ended up switching back to an iPhone 8 this year, as it’s the last iPhone I found to actually “just work”.
The flipside of this is that developers are forced to support versions of their apps that are compatible with previous operating systems. That's bad for developers, but good for consumers.
iPhones shove updates down your throat as a user. They're so persistent that inevitably most people will accept the new update - and even if you're stubborn like me, eventually your apps will no longer be supported under the newer OS's, and you are forced to update to keep using them. The problem is that the OS upgrades invariably slow down older phones, so even if you're perfectly happy with your iPhone to begin with, it starts to act slow as it gets the newer OS's. It's good that Android users can at least avoid this particular kind of planned obsolescence
YMMV. I own a Droid X and recently got the opportunity to use an iPhone 4 briefly, and I think I'll stick with Android, for a few reasons:
- The web browser doesn't seem to zoom into and magnify text areas as well on iPhone.
- No swype. It was absolutely painful to type anything.
- The battery life was actually worse, especially while sleeping.
- The common way to go "back" in applications seems to be a button in the upper left, which I find harder to reach than the physical button near the bottom of the Droid.
There may be a way to fix or work around these problems, but I'm quite happy with Android, and really don't relate to any of his complaints. It fits my needs.
EDIT: after reading the other comments, I see I'll probably get downvoted to oblivion for this. :D
As an iPhone user, I really don't understand Apple sometimes. I want to love their work, then dumb things like this happen. There's other pet peeves I have, but overall, I don't see myself ever going back to Android. You can probably say the same of any other software company.
I switched to my first iPhone last year and for me the determining factor was not feeling I had to constantly be on the upgrade path. I've has my iPhone SE (2020) and haven't been happier with a phone. A taken care of iPhone can theoretically last 7-8 years since that is how long an iPhone generally gets OS and security updates. Android is getting better on flagship phones, but still not as good. By some none flagship android and your lucky to get 1 year of OS and security updates. My last android was a pixel and so was the one before that and every time I felt like after year 1 with an android, there is a massive performance drop off. I feel like my iPhone SE (2020) runs just as well today as the day it came out of the box.
Apple does do some things really well. Android could, and I really want to see them do it, but as of right now, there are some things Android does not do well.
Addition: And I think one thing that really hurt the Android ecosystem is when Android phones went through that phase of every phone flagship phone had some sort of gimmick. Where as Apple really just buttoned down and developed a really solid phone. A lot of android phone makers were just focusing on gimmicks like styluses or niche features to set them apart from other Android instead of just really developing a good solid smart phone.
I am not here to sell iPhone but the number two reason I left Android (I was a Windows 5 mobile user, then Android, with a flag ship model, for ~2 years) is because you can only get the latest from custom ROMS. If Google takes customer service really seriously, Android will be amazing. I feel like Nexus is just a gimmick more than a real thing that Google cares about.
My number one reason is simply the fact iPhone is built and sold by one company. This is a plus and a minus, but in the long run, amortize cost makes that a bigger plus than a minus. My experience so far, iOS devices can live up to at least four major OS updates. That's at least 2 years. I think my iPhone 3GS lasted about 4 years before I switched to iPhone 6 (at that time the power of 3GS was simply too slow to handle map and instant messaging).
I'm glad Apple has some competition with Android. I made the switch to Android after I got multiple "dud" iPhone 6's which stopped working after a few days.
I just did that switch having been on iphone since the 6s. It is amazing how much choice there is on the Android platform. Having switched to Samsung immediately I get two software stores for a start. I'm not beholden to a single file service; Apps will integrate with multiple different options not just iCloud. I can download multiple browsers, with adblockers. I can download torrent clients without having to jailbreak.
Meanwhile I can't receive text chat integrated video above about 240p from iphone friends because Apple won't integrate with them. They're a shit company and I'll never buy their products again.
reply